Blys sat on Silver's couch with several of his odd 'backwards books' spread out in front of her, her mind whirring with the information that had been flooded in front of her in her effort to understand what was going on.
One thing was for sure, when she had shot for 'dream mare', she had seriously underestimated ponies' ability to dream.
Still, she had committed to the disguise, and was rapidly starting to put together a new approach. She thought she could pull this off, though it would certainly take quite a bit of work and creativity to try to match what was shown in the books.
Looking up at the clock, she saw lunch fast approaching, and decided it was time to put what she learned into action. This would be a perfect test to see if she could match the image portrayed in the books, and if it worked it would help solidify her own place in Silver's perception.
With this, she quickly stacked the books neatly on the coffee table, and slipped into the kitchen to dig up a cook book.
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Silver's morning had been more of the same since taking this job, which was to say stressful and hurried. He wasn't sure how the crew worked as fast as they did, but trying to run the water lines fast enough to keep up with the rest of construction was a serious test of his skill.
It didn't help that he couldn't keep his mind off the Mare from this morning. He had no idea how in Equestria he'd ended up in bed with an Alicorn Princess, and one that seemed to have leapt out of the pages of his books none-the-less, but right now he was seriously considering that she might not have been real at all.
Between the mess of stress from work, breaking up with Orchid Mirage and, embarrassingly, the amount he had had to drink last night, a good sized piece of him questioned if he hadn't imagined his dream mare in a drunken haze, and he'd return home to find he'd just had too much at once.
And honestly? That would be a bit of a relief. He hardly saw himself as the truly 'unlucky everycolt' who deserved such a drastic turnaround. It had been a rough month, but hardly an entire life of the kind of hardship from the stories, and that he even had so much to drink was just one of many virtues he lacked as opposed to the paradigms of 'nice guy' who deserved such luck.
Shaking his head and laughing at himself for even thinking like such things even happened in real life, he tossed his tools into their box and climbed out of the to-be basement to try to sneak some lunch in before resuming the rush to catch up.
It was at this point the little bit of good cheer he had built up deflated, realizing he had forgotten to grab a lunch for the day. He certainly had the bits to buy lunch, but that would also cost time he didn't have, and the closest place didn't offer the best food. Well, nothing to do about it, and he trotted over to his saddlebags to grab some money and follow a few of the other guys out to lunch.
"Yo, Silver, what's up? You been distracted all mornin"
Grinning at the big Clydesdale as he dug into his bag, "Hey Brick, yeah just a heck of a night"
"I'll say", the sandy unicorn next to Brick poked up from his own bags, "no lunch today, ouch dude. Dunno what the main crew's doin' to go so fast, but I feel ya on that timetable. Want us to bring you somethin' instead?"
Breathing a sigh of relief, and mentally kicking himself for not thinking to ask, he pulled out some bits and grinned at the guys, "Yeah, that'd mean a lot Spiff, here gu-"
"Woah"
Silver took a second to process the stunned look on both his friends’ faces, before turning around to see what had elicited such a reaction.
And promptly found himself needing to pick his jaw up off the ground.
There, trotting down the sidewalk, was the gorgeous mare from this morning.
Silver's brain desperately fought to understand the new reality around him as he stared dumbly at the approaching Autumn Bliss. When she got closer though, he did finally manage to put some pieces together. Under the saddle bags (which he absently noted were another set of his) he saw a distinct lack of wings.
So, a unicorn then. That he could accept more readily, if still somewhat out of left field. Perhaps, because of her similarity to that old daydream, he'd just thought he'd seen those wings in his morning haze.
But what was she doing here!?
Silver was brought out of his stupor when he realized a hoof was waving in front of his face, and he flinched back, reeling Bliss had been trying to get his attention.
"Mr. Silver, you are alright? Yes?"
"Y-yes, sorry. What a-are you doing here?" In spite of his best efforts, he couldn't keep that hint of wonder out of his voice, still seeing 'shadows' of those wings from the morning.
"OH! Well, I saw that you had been ready to pack un lunch, but did not take one. You were so kind to allow me to stay with you at your maison, I wished to repay your generosity." With that, she opened the bags with her magic and deposited the lunch on a nearby table.
And what a lunch it was! Silver couldn't even recognize a few of the dishes, and he was amazed at what she had concocted with the admittedly limited variety of food he kept at home.
"Th-thank...wow, uh, thanks...wow..."
Giggling at his shock, the unicorn flashed him a sympathetic smile, "Now, I am sure we do not have time now, but you must introduce me to your friends properly next time. You enjoy your lunch, and I will go pick up few things at market, and will see you tonight, oui?"
Silver nodded quickly, finally managing to pull his thoughts back together. "Y-yeah, absolutely! Thanks, seriously, you're a lifesaver."
Smiling, she over to him and gave him a quick nuzzle on the cheek, "not quite yet, but perhaps~"
With that she turned with a flourish, and practically pranced on her way off to her shopping.
Silver stared off where she had been for a few moments, before being knocked over by his fellow workers.
"DETAILS. NOW."
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Bliss giggled to herself once out of sight of the collection of construction workers. Silver was adorable when caught off guard, and she seemed very good at keeping him that way. She knew she had been getting stares, but the emotions had been largely the good kinds of 'positive', so she considered it a solid success.
Especially with Silvers reaction. In spite of his fractured response, he seemed to be getting better with her presence, and by the time she left she could feel his emotions becoming more solid, a sign of his own confidence in who she was. So, for now she'd get to go to a market for the first time in her life, before heading back to prepare for the events of the night.
In spite of things going well with Silver, she had noticed somethings at the house he was helping build that didn't sit well with her. She might not be familiar with pony style construction, but all changelings knew how to build large structures, and she saw a few signs as to just why Silver was having trouble keeping up.
Well, she'd just have to fix that while she was here.
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Following lunch, in which Silver had spent quite a bit of time fielding questions, the excitement had died down with the return of the taskmaster of a chief forepony and everypony had had to rush back to work.
And as a result, Silver was EXHAUSTED. In spite of this, he was in good spirits for once, and it didn't even involve 'spirits' of a specific kind to get there. With things finally sorted out mentally, he was looking forward to having a chance to get to know the mysterious unicorn named Autumn Bliss.
And honestly? It was a HUGE relief that she was a unicorn. Even then things were going to get interesting, but Silver wasn't sure he could take the kind of excitement that came with an actual Alicorn Princess.
Poking his nose in the front door he noticed two things immediately. One, his disaster of an apartment has been cleaned. Embarrassing, but he'd be sure to repay the kindness. And two, holy Celestia whatever was cooking smelled divine.
Grinning at the irony, he called out, "Miss Autumn? I'm home." A bit awkward when addressing a house guest, but he wasn't sure how else to approach her, short of knocking on his own front door.
"I am in the kitchen chere, and please, Bliss is fine~"
Silver barely suppressed a blush at the beautiful sing-song of how she spoke, and happily trotted into the kitchen.
"What're you cook-"
Silver's jaw was becoming quite well acquainted with the floor, as the beautiful mare turned and flashed him a brilliant smile, tilting her head at his half-question.
Her wings raised in excitement.